


night of the fuzzballs

by gothyringwald



Series: harringrove holidays [10]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Halloween, M/M, Mild Blood, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Monsters, Mutual Pining, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27315787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gothyringwald/pseuds/gothyringwald
Summary: It’s midnight, two nights before Halloween, and Steve and Robin are setting up a display of new arrivals when they get an after hours visitor. But Billy isn’t the only one who doesn’t care about closing time.AKA Monsters! At the video store!
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington
Series: harringrove holidays [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1222670
Comments: 16
Kudos: 100





	night of the fuzzballs

**Author's Note:**

> For my 13 Days of Halloween prompt ‘scary movies’ - Happy Halloween, folks!

Midnight, two nights before Halloween, the night of the full moon

Steve sets the box of new arrivals down, then pulls his box cutter out of his back pocket. He twirls it around his fingers before he pushes up the blade and cuts through the tape securing the flaps. The scent of new plastic hits him, and the store’s sickly yellow lights reflect off the covers of the videos. He pulls a few out and starts putting them on the shelves that have been cleared for the Halloween display.

‘These movies look weird.’ Robin pulls two out, turning them over, frowning at the covers.

‘Weird how?’ Steve scans the videos already on the shelves, but they seem normal enough to him.

‘Well, for starters, I haven’t heard of…any of them—’

‘Oh, you’ve heard of every movie ever, now?’

‘— _and_ , I mean, _Bad Dreams on Oak Terrace, The Glowing… The Malevolent Deceased_?’ Robin screws her nose up. ‘They sound fake.’

‘Then why did you order them?’

‘I didn’t order them,’ Robin says, ‘didn’t you order them?’

‘No.’ Steve shrugs. ‘Guess it was Keith.’

‘Guess so…’ Robin is still frowning at the videos in her hand, but she shakes herself and sets them on the shelves.

A shadow falls across Steve’s shoulder and a moment later someone whispers ‘Boo’ in his ear. He fumbles the video he was holding and wheels around, heart pounding. He lets out a long breath. ‘Jesus, Hargrove.’

‘Nah, I’m just going by Billy these days.’ Billy winks.

Steve’s pulse stutters, and he pretends it’s the receding adrenaline, not the way Billy is looking at him, or how the air seems charged between them. It’s like this a lot, lately.

‘What do you want?’ Robin asks.

‘Gee, I don’t know,’ Billy says, tearing his gaze from Steve, ‘maybe I wanted to rent a movie?’

‘We’re closed.’

‘Not what the sign says.’ Billy jerks a thumb back at the door. ‘And the door’s open.’

‘Shit, I forgot,’ Steve says.

Robin rolls her eyes and goes to switch the sign around, then holds the door open. ‘OK, now you can leave.’ She waves her arm, all but shooing Billy out of the store.

But Billy only cocks a hip and says, ‘You know, that’s false advertising—’

‘What do you want to rent?’ Steve asks.

The look Robin shoots him is annoyed, and a little too knowing, but she only shakes her head as she closes and locks the door. She hasn’t outright asked Steve if he has a thing for Billy, but she’s dropped enough hints that Steve is pretty sure she knows.

And then Steve realises Billy never answered him. He clears his throat and says, ‘Hey, Hargrove, what do you want to rent?’

‘Your box is glowing.’

‘Uh… I don’t think we have that. Is it a new release?’

‘No,’ Billy says, brows knit as he points past Steve, ‘your box is glowing.’

‘Huh?’

‘Steve.’ Robin’s voice is strained and slow; he hasn’t heard it like this since—

There’s light around Steve’s feet that shouldn’t be there and, sure enough, when he turns, the box of new arrivals is emitting a soft green glow. ‘I don’t think it’s meant to do that.’

Robin’s clutching a video to her chest, staring wide-eyed at the box. ‘No shit.’

‘Are you two fucking with me?’ Billy says.

‘We didn’t even know you were here,’ Steve says, ‘how could we—’

The box rattles. And then it rattles again.

Steve’s heart jumps.

One of the box flaps opens, eerie green light spilling out. Two small clawed furry paws creep over the edge.

‘What the fuck is that?’ It’s Billy, behind Steve, standing so close Steve can feel each of his exhales skimming the back of his neck.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Go look.’

‘ _You_ go look.’

‘I’ll look,’ Robin says, stepping forward, twirling a finger in her hair.

‘Robin, don’t—’

A head pops up, two luminous eyes peering up at the three of them. It blinks and, oh, it definitely has more eyelids than Steve expected. A shudder runs through him, but maybe it’s just some kind of animal he’s never seen before. Maybe it’s not… Not this time.

But when Robin says, ‘What is that?’ Steve’s stomach sinks. Robin is smart, really smart, so if it’s something normal, she should know what it is, right?

‘Whatever it is, it’s dead.’ Billy shoves past Steve; the creature makes a small squeaking noise and retreats into the box.

Steve grabs Billy’s arm. ‘It might be someone’s lost pet, or something.’

Robin and Billy give him matching looks of disbelief.

‘OK, fine, it’s probably more freaky monster shit, but I don’t know…’ Steve trails off, his mind racing. He shrugs and he sounds more hopeful than he feels when he says, ‘Maybe it’s friendly this time.’

‘No way’—Billy wheels around, fixing Steve with a sharp look—‘ _none_ of that shit is friendly. Trust me.’

‘OK, but still—’

‘I never thought I’d say this, but I’m with Hargrove’—Billy raises his brows; Robin glares—‘that thing is not normal. And I don’t think it’s going to be friendly.’

The thing has popped its head out of the box again; it looks like a cross between a miniature possum and some kind of weird lizard. It’s not _cute_ , but it’s not the ugliest thing Steve’s seen.

‘I don’t know, it kinda looks friendly?’ Steve considers it, still keeping his distance. But the thing crawls out, approaching him cautiously. It sidles up to his leg and emits a sound that’s almost like a purr. Except wrong.

‘See,’ Steve says, weakly, ‘friendly,’ but as he turns back to give Robin what he hopes is a reassuring smile, the creature opens its mouth.

Wider than it should. Showing way too many teeth. Why do they always have so many _teeth_? And then it springs up, jaw unhinged, sinking all those teeth into Steve’s forearm.

Searing pain shoots up his arm. ‘Fuck, OK, not friendly.’ The thing growls, still attached to him, its teeth sinking in further as Steve tries to shake it off. ‘Get it off me!’

Billy grabs it and pulls, but Robin steps in, saying, ‘Don’t pull it, you’ll tear his skin off.’

‘Yeah, not what I want to hear right now.’

Robin looks around, then grabs a tape, and whacks it. It goes flying, hitting one of the shelves. Tapes clatter to the floor. The creature skitters away, meltinginto the shadows.

Robin turns to Steve, breathing hard. ‘You’re an idiot.’

‘I know.’

‘And you’re bleeding.’

‘Oh.’ Steve holds up his arm. Blood slides down his wrist, pooling in the crease of his elbow, drippingonto the floor. ‘Yeah.’

‘We need to stop it.’ Robin drops the tape and looks around, rambling about this time a girl on her soccer team got hurt, the same story she’d told at Starcourt, and then she glances at Steve. ‘Guess I told you that before.’ She swallows. ‘We’ll have to go find something for your arm.’

But as she says this, Billy shirks his jacket, letting it fall to the floor. His shirt goes next, and then he tugs at his undershirt, pulling it over his head.

‘What are you _doing_?’ Robin says. ‘This isn’t a strip club.’

‘Getting something to stop the bleeding.’ Billy grabs Steve’s arm. His hands are warm and rough and Steve can’t tell if Billy is trembling or if it’s him. Billy uses part of the shirt to wipe away some of the blood. ‘I don’t think it’s as deep as it looks,’ he says, ‘but I should bandage it, anyway.’

Steve nods. The back of his hand brushes Billy’s chest when Billy pulls him closer, tying his undershirt around Steve’s forearm.

‘That good?’ Billy asks.

‘I think so.’ Steve swallows thickly. His arm is still throbbing, cradled in Billy’s hands. They’re covered in his blood; it looks almost black in the store’s lights.

‘That needs to be looked at by a doctor,’ Robin says, ‘we should go.’

‘I’ll drive.’ Billy steps back, finally letting go of Steve, but not looking away from him. He picks his shirt and jacket up, putting them back on, but leaving the shirt unbuttoned. ‘Gimme your keys, we won’t all fit on my bike.’

‘What about that thing?’

‘There’s only one, maybe it won’t do much damage,’ Robin says, but she doesn’t sound convinced. ‘Your arm is more important and we can get…someone once you’re patched up.’

Steve nods. He feels woozy and fuzzy around the edges. ‘OK, let’s go.’

‘Yeah, might be a problem with that,’ Billy says.

‘Shit.’ Steve’s stomach turns.

Because there wasn’t just one. There are more of the creatures, now,and they’re blocking the door. They’re small, but the one that attacked Steve was fast and vicious, and he doesn’t want to find out if they’re all the same.

He almost expects Billy to stride forward, say something about how they’re small and they can kick them out of the way, or stomp on them, or something. But Billy is staring at them wide-eyed, looking a little pale, the line of his jaw gone white.

So, when Robin says, ‘Let’s go out the back way,’ Steve nods and says, ‘Good idea.’

But he doesn’t move. No one does.

It’s like they can’t, frozen in place by the bizarre image of these tiny menaces watching them. Waiting. Steve doesn’t want to know what they’re waiting for. And then the creatures throw back their heads and howl as one and it finally spurs them into action.

They crowd toward the break room, dodging fallen tapes, all trying to get through the door at once. Steve makes it in first. He bolts across the room, grabbing the handle of the door that backs onto the alley. It won’t open.

‘Fuck. That idiot at the arcade blocked the back door with the dumpster again.’ He fists his uninjured hand in his hair, turning back to Billy and Robin.

‘Can’t we climb over it?’ Billy asks.

‘The door opens out, not in.’

‘Great.’ Billy turns away, silhouetted by the light spilling in from the main part of the video store. The light spilling in through the _opened_ door.

The sound of claws skittering across the floor, followed by more howls, come through. ‘Shut the door.’

Robin slams it shut with moments to spare. There’s a muffled yelp, one tiny paw stuck between door and jamb before it slips away.

‘OK’—Steve’s heart hammers against his ribs—‘we can’t go out the back because of the dumpster.’

Robin waves a hand back toward the store. ’And we can’t go out the front because of those things.’

‘So, we’re trapped.’ Billy puts a hand on his hip.‘Fuck this, I’m not waiting around to be some furry freak’s dinner. Not after—’ He shakes his head, turning away. He reaches for the door, pulling it open.

Steve doesn’t think. He surges forward, pulling Billy back, uninjured arm tight around Billy’s waist. One of the things pounces through the open door. Its claws scrabble for Billy’s chest, even as Steve pulls him further into the room.

There’s a broom resting by the door. Robin grabs it, hitting the thing so hard it explodes.

Steve still has his arm around Billy. He uses it to spin him around. ‘What the _fuck_ , Hargrove.’

Billy shirks his touch. ‘I’m not scared of a few fuzzballs,’ he says, but his chest is heaving and his eyes are wide.

‘One of those _fuzzballs_ nearly took my arm off.’ Steve waves his arm, then winces. ‘And it nearly got you, too!’

‘I’m fine,’ Billy says, rubbing his chest. There are a few scratches where the thing had managed to swipe at him, but they’re not deep. ‘And Buckley killed it, anyway.’

Green goop drips from the end of the broom Robin is still clutching. ‘Guess all that softball paid off.’ She gives a strained smile and throws the broom. It clatters to the floor. Robin shudders. ‘Where did those things come from?’

Movement from the main part of the store catches Steve’s eye. He moves past Billy, heart racing. A bunch of the video boxes from the new shipment are open, but there are no extra tapes anywhere. Shit. ‘They’re coming from the videos.’

‘What?’ Robin comes up beside Steve, peering into the store. Her breath catches.‘Holy crap. I think you’re right.’

‘How could they fit in the boxes, though?’ Steve hadn’t seen anything extra when he was unpacking the box, so the creatures being in the VHS boxes is the only thing that makes sense, but it also doesn’t make sense.

‘Maybe they can like’—Robin makes a gesture with her hands—‘flatten themselves. Like mice.’

‘Gross.’

Three of the things turn, their creepy eyes landing on them. They pause and rear up like they’re poising to strike. Robin slams the door shut again. She has her hands flat against it, turning to look at Steve. ‘I told you they were fake movies.’

Steve fists a hand in his hair. ‘Great, just great. Who sends fake movies with…whatever the hell those things are in them?’

‘The Russians?’ Robin says.

‘They’re all gone.’

‘As far as we know.’

‘What if it’s…’ Steve trails off, glancing at Billy, then away.

‘No,’ Billy says, ‘it’s not.’

‘It’s not like I want it to be, but so far everything weird has been—’

‘No!’

Steve holds his hands up. ‘OK, dude…’ He sucks in a breath, not sure what else to say.

‘Right.’ Robin pushes away from the door and starts pacing. ‘Those things are locked in there for now, but we don’t know if they can get out. And we don’t know what they’ll do if they do get out.’

‘No.’ Steve presses his lips together. ‘Shit, they could eat the whole town for all we know.’

‘Yeah.’

A tense and suffocating silence consumes the room, broken only by the sounds of the creatures moving around the store. Robin stays by the door, and Steve has slumped into a chair, trying not to think about his arm.

Billy is chewing his thumbnail, leaning against the door that backs onto the alley. He drops his hand and tilts his head. ‘They’ve gone quiet.’

‘That could be good?’ Steve says, but his gut tells him it’s probably not.

‘Or it could be _very_ bad.’ Robin chews her lip.‘We should check.’

Steve nods and Robin cracks open the door, peering out.

‘What are they doing?’ Steve asks, coming up behind her.

‘They’re…eating candy.’

‘Oh, good, monsters on a sugar high,’ Steve says, ‘just what we need.’ He watches with no little disgust at the tiny monsters tearing open packets of cotton candy and Milk Duds and anything they can get their paws on, shoving it into their wide mouths. Crumbs of brightly coloured sugar spray everywhere; Steve’s going to have to clean that all up.

‘Something’s happening,’ Robin says.

Billy comes over, now, shouldering Robin out of the way, but she only shoves him back, until all three of them are crowded around the door.

‘What are they doing?’ Steve asks.

‘They’re…vibrating,’ Robin says.

Moments later, there’s a horrible noise, and one of the creatures explodes in a mess of neon green goo. ‘Gross,’ Steve says, but the tightness in his chest eases. ‘They must be allergic to candy. Maybe if we feed the rest of them—’

But then Robin says, ‘Oh no,’ and his stomach sinks again.

‘Oh no, what?’

‘Something’s coming out of the goo.’

‘It’s a bigger one,’ Billy says, his breath warm on Steve’s neck. ‘Fuck, this is like some kinda shitty _Gremlins_ knock-off.’

‘Yeah, well this is _real_ ,’ Robin says.

Steve presses his lips together and glances sidelong at Billy. ‘How did they kill the gremlins?’

‘Uh. They got one of ‘em in a blender.’ Billy’s lips tilt. ‘It was pretty cool, actually.’

‘Well, genius, we don’t have a blender,’ Robin says.

More of the creatures vibrate and explode, bigger, hairless versions of them coming out of the mess. They wipe the goo out of their eyes, rolling their necks and swivelling their heads.And then they look over to where Steve, Robin and Billy are peeking out of the door.

‘Shit.’ Steve presses the door shut. ‘OK, blender or not, we have to get those things before they get us.’

‘Right on,’ Billy says, ‘let’s go kill some monsters.’

‘Uh, sure, OK. And _how_ are we going to kill them?’ Robin says. ‘I got _one_ when it was _small_ , but those things are way bigger, there are more of them, and’—she looks at Steve—‘your arm is messed up.’

‘It’s fine,’ Steve says.

‘Fuck all this talking, I’ll do it myself.’ Billy reaches for the door, but Steve stops him again, hand curled around his wrist. ‘Let go of me.’

‘You can’t kill them on your own.’

‘Why not?’

‘ _Because_ ,’ Steve starts, but the image of Billy facing the Mind Flayer down on his own flashes in his mind. Maybe that’s why Billy thinks he can do this alone, maybe that’s why he thinks he has to. Steve sighs. ‘And what are you doing to do?’

‘I’ll make it up as I go along.’ Billy shrugs and brings out his zippo. ‘I could burn ‘em.’

‘Yeah, you’re not setting fire to the store.’ A beat, Steve looks at Robin. ‘Right?’

‘Right!’

‘Just checking.’ Steve gnaws his lip, glancing between Billy and Robin. His arm throbs and his head feels light and thick at the same time. ‘Look, we have to… We have to…’ His vision sparkles at the edges, a blurred shape moves in front of him.

‘Hey, Harrington, come on.’ Someone shakes him. They come into focus. Billy. Billy is shaking him, brows knit, staring into Steve’s eyes. ‘We’re gonna go kill those fuckers, and then you can pass out. OK?’

Steve nods. A bitter taste sits heavily at the back of his throat. ‘Right.’ He shakes himself. ‘We need weapons.’

‘We’ve got the broom…’ Robin says.

‘One broom. Three of us. Great.’

Billy picks up the broom and snaps it over his knee. ‘Now we’ve got two.’ He throws half at Robin, keeping the other for himself.

‘And what am I meant to do?’

‘Stay behind me,’ Billy says.

‘Like hell,’ Steve says, then spies a mop in the corner. He grabs it and says, ‘OK, let’s go,’ just as the doorknob starts rattling and claws scratch at the door.

‘Nothing for it,’ Robin says, holding her half of the broom in a white-knuckled grip. She looks to Steve and he nods and she throws open the door.

After that, it’s a blur of claws and slime and otherworldly howls. Adrenaline courses through Steve as he fights, and he forgets about everything else, focussing only on killing the monsters and making sure Robin and Billy aren’t in any trouble.

There are a few close calls—at one point, Billy has three of the things hanging off him; Steve is too far away but Robin sweeps in and gets all of them—but the three of them work surprisingly well together. It takes the rest of the night to kill all the things, and by the end, Steve thinks he’s going to puke, his arm is numb, and everything else _hurts_.

All three of them are covered in bright green goo and little bits of the creatures they fought.

‘Why can’t this ever happen to anyone else?’ Steve says, pulling a chunk of monster out of his hair.

Robin grimaces as she tries to wipe herself down, then gives up. ‘We’re cursed,’ she says, simply, though a moment later she shoots a guilty glance in Billy’s direction.

But Billy’s more occupied with inspecting his jacket, a scowl creasing his face. ‘This was new,’ he says. There’s a long scratch down his arm, and the ones on his chest from earlier, but none of them are deep. ‘Fuck, I hate this town.’

‘Hate to agree with you again,’ Robin says, ‘but me too.’

Steve grunts.

‘Should we clean up the store?’ Robin looks around. Videos are scattered everywhere, bits of monster are plastered on the walls, and remnants of candy litter the floor.

‘If I have to look at this any longer I’m going to hurl,’ Steve says.

In the end, they leave a note for Keith, apologising and giving a vague explanation, then finally emerge into the parking lot.

The sun is cresting the horizon, bringing the grey-pink light of dawn as the town wakes up. It’s oddly peaceful, despite the carnage inside the store, and a sense of calm settles in Steve. As he looks over at Billy, chewing on his thumbnail, the calmness takes on an edge of urgency. He wants…he _wants_ , but he’s tired and his legs are wobbly and he hurts, and he’s not sure if Billy wants, too.

‘How’s the arm?’ Billy asks, after a few minutes or maybe only a few seconds.

‘I’ll live,’ Steve says. He shifts his weight. ‘Should probably get it looked at, though.’

‘Yeah.’ Billy clears his throat. ‘I, uh, I guess I’ll get going,’ he says. ‘I’m going to need about fifteen showers and I’ve got to be at the garage in an hour so…’

‘Yeah,’ Steve says, slowly, ‘I’ll see you ‘round.’ He hesitates a moment, then moves to his car, shoulders sagged. He stops short at the look on Robin’s face. ‘What?’

‘You know what.’ At Steve’s hesitation, Robin rolls her eyes and points to Billy. ‘Go talk to him.’

‘About what?’

‘ _Steve_.’

Steve opens his mouth, then closes it, and nods. He turns back to find Billy is still standing by his motorcycle. ‘Hey, Hargrove.’

Billy glances over. ‘Yeah?’

‘You got any plans for Halloween?’ Steve’s heart beats hard.

‘Well, I was going to rent a movie, but…’ Billy trails off, tilting his head in the direction of the store.

‘Yeah.’ Steve runs a hand through his hair, but it gets stuck halfway. He shoves his hand in his pocket. He glances back at Robin, who gives him a look that might be encouraging, or might be exasperated. ‘Well, I already took out a few movies,’ Steve says to Billy, ‘so maybe we could watch one of those. Together?’

Billy flicks a glance at Robin, back to Steve. ‘Threesomes aren’t my style.’

Robin makes a disgusted noise and gets into the car.

‘That’s not… She isn’t…’ Steve sighs. ‘I’m asking _you_.’

Billy raises his brows, lips quirking. He gives Steve a long look, like he’s searching for something in Steve’s face. Whatever it is, he must find it because he says, ‘Yeah, OK, I’ll swing by your place tomorrow night.’

‘Cool,’ Steve says, ‘see you then,’ and he turns away, fighting the urge to pump his fist as he gets into the car.

‘You know, your taste in guys is pretty terrible,’ Robin says.

‘Whatever,’ Steve says, but he’s smiling when he looks over at Robin. Even the smug grin Robin is giving him, and the thought of the monsters they just killed, can’t kill his buzz.

‘On the plus side,’ Robin says, still smiling, ‘you finally don’t suck.’

Steve does pump his fist, then, and says, ‘Damn right, I don’t.’

**Author's Note:**

> And then Steve realises he can’t drive with his arm all messed up and has to call Billy back to drive them and it’s that awkward thing like when you say goodbye to someone you’ve been talking to/hanging out with and then end up walking the same way as them and have to do it all over again haha
> 
> And imagine poor Keith coming to open the store after all that haha
> 
> Anyway, thanks for reading! :D this wasn’t the fic I set out to write but it’s the one I ended up with! And I am OK with that :D
> 
> Also, ngl, I actually felt kinda bad killing the monsters off?? But then I always felt a little bad when they killed the gremlins ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ they're just so ugly-cute, you know?
> 
> You can find all (I only managed 5) of my [13 Days of Halloween things here on tumblr](https://gothyringwald.tumblr.com/tagged/13doh), if you wish :)


End file.
